A walking tour of WB Studios

Today I had a chance to go over to the Warner Bros studio in Burbank for most of the day. A friend of a friend had invited us to come over and see the museum and have lunch at the commissary and then he would give us a walking tour of the lot.

I had been to the museum once before, and of course the big draw here is the entire second floor is devoted to Harry Potter. I had seen a year or so ago and there were new things on display from Goblet of Fire and from the first movie as well. I noticed that several items that were there the last time were gone and was told they needed these items again, for the next (#6) movie that is currently in production. Lots of neat things to see but again they will not let you take pictures. After that he treated us to lunch at the commissary which is really nice now and the food was great. Just about anything you could wish for, and not all that expensive.

Then we walked around the Warner's Lot, visited the only remaining Warner Studio Store (I got a Harry Potter wallet and scarf that are so expensive in the outside world and were so decently priced in this store it was wonderful.

The studio is amazing and we actually got to walk into one of the largest sound stages around. They had finished filming "Ocean's 13" in here and were taking the set apart, but had just started so most of the casino was still up. A HUGE set in a HUGE building. I have never been in a sound stage this big before. And the set was just so awesome to look at.

We walked almost all over the lot. We saw and walked through the New York of the 30's standing set, the small neighborhood street, the central town square set with church and gazebo. The standing set were in some cases being dressed or were already dressed for new shows and some were just sitting around with nothing to do. It is nice to see that this lot is so busy now. Most of it TV shows but some being used for feature movies.

There is a tour offered for $40 and you do get inside some building and the museum, but your time is controlled and really there isn't enough time for a true Harry Potter fan to look at the wonderful costumes, props and set pieces they have in there.

Downstairs in the regular museum they have changed it now to nothing but TV shows. They change this downstairs exhibit every two year or so. But one of the more interesting things had nothing to do with movies or TV. On the Back wall is a dark photograph. It shows the front of a Warner Bros Studio Store that has been severlly damaged and rubble is all over the place. In front of the store is a Bugs Bunny Statue with some paint chipped off, but intact. On the plaque under the picture it simply says "Photo of the Warner Brothers Store located under the Twin Towers. Picture taken September 20, 2001". So, Bugs Bunny survived the fall of the towers. But, according to the Docent who was the one who hosted us today, the statue did survive, but nobody seems to know what happened to it or where it is now.

To bad as they should have brought it here to studio and put it on display somewhere on the Lot. They have so many nice little tribute things around the studio. Like a wall with the raising of the Flag at Iwo Jema (SP?) on top of a wall with the names of every Warner Employee who was in the service during WWII. A piece of the Berlin Wall is on display. A nice fountain that I missed what he said it was dedicated to, but it was beautiful. Lots of little things like that all over the studio.

Anyway, that was a fun day and if you get a chance to take the tour it is worth it because, unlike Universals tour, everything here is real and is in use every day of the week.

Re: A walking tour of WB Studios

I absolutely love that tour! I have done it several times and always suggest it to visitors.

Last time, my friends and I were able to get sorted by the Sorting Hat. It was so freakin' cool!!!

Good morning, son
In twenty years from now
Maybe we'll both sit down and have a few beers
And I can tell you 'bout today
And how I picked you up and everything changed
It was pain
Sunny days and rain
I knew you'd feel the same things...

Re: A walking tour of WB Studios

A friend of mine works at WB (she works in international distribution... basically tells what countries can have what movies to air on TV) and is always sharing stories about various celebs she sees on the lot while she's heading to lunch or whatnot. She's always letting me know when they got goodies I might be interested in at the studio store (she got me a killer deal on The Cure's b-sides box set).

Re: A walking tour of WB Studios

I enjoyed following your play by play visit to the WB studios. I've always wanted to see Paramount and Warner Bros Studios.

1st Amendment-Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Re: A walking tour of WB Studios

Thanks for the kind comments. This particular day the "Sorting Hat" was not working and they moved it off the stool and put it away. A lot of kids on tours coming through were very disappointed that it wasn't talking today. And a lot of adults too.

This Walking Tour that my friend and I took is not part of the "Official Tour" but more of a stroll through the lot with someone who works there and knows the history of the studio very well. One of the things that I found to be quite interesting is that on each door into a sound stage there is a large information board on the wall. This has the names of all the movies, and at the bottom all the TV shows that have been shot in that particular sound stage.

The gentleman who was taking us around explained that he is the one who did that. He did all the research and that it wasn't as easy as it might seem. Some years ago the Warner's Sound Stages were repainted and some where divided into two sound stages and they were all re-numbered. So he had to find the original numbers and then what they were numbered today so he could put the right movie or TV show on the correct sound stage. To further complicate the matter a movie may have been shot on several sound stages so to not confuse the issue they (the studio bosses being "they") decided to leave off what scenes were shot in what building. So you may see the same movie title on more than one stage. After all the work he did was turned in, they still didn't get it right and he is still finding many mistakes on the boards. He makes a note and turns it in. Sometimes they fix it and sometimes not.

Warner Brothers is a very interesting place and I could tell from the employees attitudes and smiling faces everywhere we went that they all seem to love working for this studio and that is a nice thing to see.

Re: A walking tour of WB Studios

Thank you so much Lost Boy! This tour seems amazing. I felt like i was on the tour beside you. It would be great to work in the Studio. I'm currently taking Film Making classes in San Francisco and thought it would be awesome to score a job/career in Hollywood Studio(s). Appreciate your time and I will look foward to taking tours in April.

Re: A walking tour of WB Studios

Nice report, Lost Boy. I'm actually typing this from the WB lot right now (I work on a show here) and your report was very fun to read. Working here is really fun sometimes and your post did a great job bringing that across. It really is alive with activity (and some star sightings). I would urge everyone to take the tour if they can.